News

On Wednesday, December 14, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Drug Safety Communication warning that; "repeated or lengthy use of general anesthetic or sedation drugs during surgeries or procedures in children younger than three years of age or in pregnant women during the final trimester may affect development of children’s brains." The FDA defined lengthy as greater than three hours of exposure.

As the Zika epidemic spreads to the United States, the potential for contracting the disease via blood transfusion has emerged as a serious concern. The problem of transfusion-related Zika virus transmission—and recommended strategies to reduce that risk—are outlined in a special article in Anesthesia & Analgesia. Anesthesia & Analgesia is published by Wolters Kluwer.

New Global Guidelines for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection issued by the World Health Organization include a list of 29 concrete recommendations distilled by 20 of the world’s leading experts from 26 reviews of the latest evidence. The recommendations were published in "The Lancet Infectious Diseases" and are designed to address the increasing burden of health care associated infections on both patients and health care systems globally.

Dr. Davy Cheng, Chair and Chief of the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at Western University, chaired the Circulation Track of WCA HK 2016, and led 80 esteemed cardiac anesthesiologists presenting in the track.

Many healthcare journals encourage researchers to post their original data online, in the interest of research openness. But open sharing of research databases can place private patient information at risk, according to a special topic paper in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

Dr. Santhanam Suresh, chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and director of the Pain Management Team at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a member of the IARS Board of Trustees was awarded ASRA’s Distinguished Service Award during a ceremony held April 2nd in conjunction with the Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

With the re-emergence of measles, mumps, diphtheria, and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), many healthcare providers are encountering these diseases—and their potentially serious and even fatal outcomes—for the first time. A special article in Anesthesia & Analgesia presents a review and update for hospital-based providers who may encounter VPDs—particularly the operating room and intensive care unit.

A new "proliposomal" preparation of the local anesthetic drug ropivacaine may provide a valuable new option for pain relief in some clinical situations, with key advantages over other types of slow-release local anesthetics, suggest a pair of reports in Anesthesia & Analgesia.